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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. vault — in gymnastics
  5. stock — goods
  6. rash — a series
  7. chair — a leader
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — a video
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — hasty
  12. file — a document
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. branch — a division
  15. stock — shares
  16. vault — a safe
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. file — a tool
  19. file — a line of people
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. clip — for paper
  22. band — a music group
  23. band — a ring
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com